1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a vehicle and, more specifically, to an electric vehicle that utilizes wind to rotate turbines for converting the energy of the wind into electrical energy. The electrical energy is used to provide power to the vehicle as well as to charge and recharge power cells within the vehicle causing the vehicle to selectively move along a desired path.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous other types of electric vehicles exist in the prior art. Prior art electric vehicles include power cells therein for powering a vehicle to move as well as to provide power to operate all sub-systems, such as heat, A/C, and radio, contained within the vehicle. These systems are generally not able to store a sufficient amount of electrical energy to allow the vehicle to be operated as it was designed and the stored energy supply is usually quickly depleted. Therefore, the owners of these vehicles are required to use additional external sources of energy to recharge the power cells contained within these vehicles.
Additionally, alternative power sources such as fuel cells and solar power have been incorporated into vehicles in order to reduce the reliance on gasoline powered vehicles. These methods of providing energy are not universally viable. In the case of solar power, the solar panels cannot capture enough energy from the sun to maintain sufficient power in non-sunny conditions thereby restricting the use of these vehicles to specific geographic locales and times of day. Fuel cells are also not practical as due to the water byproduct formed when employing these types of power sources. Vehicles that are used in extreme cold could not function properly with these fuel cells as the byproduct would freeze and render the vehicle inoperable.
Attempts have been made to solve these defects by producing vehicles or portable power apparatuses for electric vehicles that have power cells which can be recharged while the vehicle is in motion. However, no self-recharging mechanism known in the prior art is able produce enough power to be a viable alternative. While these self recharging mechanisms may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.
Numerous other wind driven device designed for electric vehicles are provided in the prior art. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 452,546 issued to Mitchell on May 19, 1891.
Another patent was issued to Williams on Apr. 19, 1904 as U.S. Pat. No. 757,800. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 2,145,511 was issued to Grohmann on Jan. 31, 1939 and still yet another was issued on Mar. 26, 1968 to Redman as U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,849.
Another patent was issued to Spahn on Jan. 19, 1971 as U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,239. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,925 was issued to Stoeckert on Apr. 8, 1975. Another was issued to Bussiere on Dec. 27, 1983 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,368 and still yet another was issued on Mar. 22, 1994 to Burkhardt as U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,746.
Another patent was issued to Pena on Oct. 21, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,032. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,127 was issued to Damron et al. on Jul. 6, 1999. Another was issued to Apruzzese on Jul. 13, 2001 as Canadian Patent No. 2,296,794 and still yet another was issued on 30 Jan. 2003 to Wang as WIPO Patent No. WO03/008223.
While these electric vehicles may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.